CRTC Approves Tesla Application for Basic International Telecom Service License

Tesla Global Engineering HQ in Palo Alto, California

Back in September 2022, Tesla applied for a Basic International Telecommunications Services Licence (BITS) with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

Fast forward to late February 2023, the license was approved by the CRTC, reports Tesla North, as spotted by Michael Geist.

No, Tesla does not have plans to start telecom services in Canada. Its original application submitted by McCarthy Tetrault LLP said it “does not, and does not intend to, own or operate transmission facilities in Canada.”

But in the U.S., SpaceX plans to debut a global cellular service using Starlink and partner T-Mobile this year.

Instead, Tesla said it wanted the BITS license for “Machine-to-Machine cellular data service to enable telemetry data and in-vehicle infotainment services access, including internet access.”

Tesla vehicles are connected to the cloud continuously, with the vast fleet sharing data with the automaker, which in turn uses the latter to make improvements and future design decisions. Yesterday, the automaker announced it reached a milestone of 4 million vehicles produced in total.

The public was given the opportunity to comment on the Tesla application and there were only two interventions against it. But these were not substantiated enough to deny the application, said Claude Doucet, Secretary General.

“After consideration of the comments received, the Commission has approved the application and a BITS licence for a period of 10 years is enclosed,” wrote Doucet.